Blue Origin is an aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos. It recently announced its new and upcoming Swiss army knife-style spacecraft platform called Blue Ring. There has been little public discussion by Blue Origin regarding this project. In January of 2023, a story broke when Blue Origin briefly announced a job posting for Blue Ring Senior Program Manager on its Careers page.
Desert-dwelling bacteria that feed on sunlight, absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen could be incorporated into paint that supplements the air in a habitat on Mars.
Extraterrestrial mining and metal processing are key goals for space exploration. Rodolfo Marin Rivera at KU Leuven and a team of scientists in materials sciences have published a new report in Scientific Reports. They conducted catalytic dissolution of metals from meteorite proxies of metal rich asteroids by using a deep eutectic solvent.
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Part 1 of 2 Parts
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Part 1 of 2 Parts
Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Part 1 of 2 Parts
So far, the main purpose of visiting moons, planets and asteroids in the solar system has been scientific research. However, the primary interest of commercial investors in space industries is the use of space as a source of valuable materials, both natural and manufactured, that cannot be created on Earth.
Current space transportation is based on vertically launched expendable rockets. However, reusable rocket-propelled “spaceplanes” for horizontal take-off offer significant savings as well as fundamental improvements in flexibility and safety. Spaceplanes would be able to operate similar to airplanes from airports. They would not require a launch pad with complex and expensive infrastructure.
